Home Secretary Theresa May has responded to urgent questions in Parliament over accusations the government’s counter-terrorism policies enabled Mohammed Emwazi, the Islamic State killer known as “Jihadi John,” to flee to Syria in 2013.

May appeared before the
House of Commons on Monday afternoon to answer an urgent question
from Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper concerning the
government’s relaxation of counter-terrorism policies in
2012.

The Labour Party says the government’s decision to cancel
relocation powers and replace them with Terrorism Prevention and
Investigation Measures (TPIMs) has made it easier for known
terror suspects to join fighters in Syria.

May refused to accept these claims, insisting police have never
suggested such powers would help prevent terror suspects leaving
the UK.

Her comments come as it emerges Mohammed Emwazi, the executioner
who appears in several Islamic State videos, fled the UK to Syria
in 2013.

This was one year after the government rescinded powers to
forcibly move individuals around the country – effectively
internal exile.

Cooper told the House of Commons that 600 British citizens have
traveled to fight in Syria, including schoolchildren.

One suspect who absconded did so dressed in a burqa, while
another man escaped in a taxi, she said.

The Shadow Home Secretary put pressure on May to admit the
coalition government’s decision to remove relocation powers was
responsible for these oversights.

“The home secretary’s decision to abolish control orders and
cancel relocations was implemented in 2012, despite the continued
police views it was the best way to disrupt terrorist
networks,” Cooper told MPs.

She went on to ask May: “Has the decision to remove
relocation orders made it easier for the West London network to
operate, recruit and send people to Syria?”

May responded by saying the government’s decision to stop
relocation powers was based on the situation at the time.

“The situation has changed since then,” she said.

May said the courts were weakening Labour’s previous system of
“control orders,” when the coalition government decided
to replace them.

She also said high profile cases of terror suspects fleeing the
UK currently being discussed in the media relate to the time when
relocation powers were in place.

The home secretary went on to say it was impossible to stop every
terror suspect leaving the UK.

“Short of locking someone up for 24 hours a day, you can’t
eliminate the risk that they pose,” she told MPs.